Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been around. Seems I've come down with a bug and sitting down to write a blog post wasn't really in the cards. I did get things done, but it left me so wiped out I just went to bed.

Two nights ago I finished ALL laundry. It is done! Everything, down to the pillows I had to wash, is done and put away. I even sorted out all the socks and boy, did I throw away socks. Take a look -

Guys, we have too many socks.

Wow, what a joke! I took all our socks out of the sock basket and just poured them out onto the bed. This took forever to sort through, especially because cats kept picking up socks from the organized piles and moving them around. Cute, but definitely not efficient. Thank you, cats.

It did get better, take a look at this -

I'll miss that that light blue and that teal fuzzy sock :(

If I didn't have a sock match, or if it had a hole, or if it was just gross - it got tossed here. These socks are now GONE from the house! Now all my pretty, matched socks are sitting in my basket in PAX and Hubster's are in a laundry basket. I finally got my little cloth cubby boxes in so I can put away Hubster's socks/Tshirts/pants into PAX as well. Yay! The closet in the bedroom is difficult to access regularly due to the bed being huge in a tiny room (there is only 1.5 ft from the closet to the edge of the bed, I measured). It now holds Dave's hanging clothes (which he doesn't wear often) and seasonal stuff like sweatshirts. It also has storage things like our board games, sewing machine, gun, and other things in safes/boxes.

Last night was when I really felt gross, I did my meal planning and threw away trash. I also went around the house and gathered all the pop cans and put them into a bag which Hubster just took outside before leaving for work. I did put together the shoe shelf for daily-use and guest shoes, so that's something! Mostly I just played Minecraft on our PS3. I dislike being sick, but it is nice to have a justifiable reason to play video games almost all night :)

Tonight I feel worse than the last two days. I was supposed to go to the bank and the store but that definitely didn't happen. Luckily the meal plan doesn't require me to go shopping for a few days, so that gives me some time to feel better - but I can't wait until Monday, so that means I get tonight off, but I have to go tomorrow (Saturday morning, for you regular people). My plan tonight is to put things away in the cubbies I just got, then I'm going to play more Minecraft and rest. I'm going to post my meal plan now and hopefully I'll be okay to post a daily check-in really quick before bed.

WOW! I feel so accomplished today, haha. I spent every possible minute cleaning and folding laundry. I still have 3 loads left in baskets, those will be completed in another marathon tomorrow. I'm excited to get it ALL done because then Hubster is going to pull out the dryer for me and I can clean out the back. Laundry is taking forever to do because I have to run things in the dryer 1.5 times (I run a 25 min timed cycle, then a regular auto-sense cycle on MAX dry, lame). If your dryer is doing this, you need to take the back plate off your dryer and clean that sucker out. Youtube is a great source of instructional videos that will show you exactly how to do it for your style dryer. Mine is a gas dryer with a top-access lint catch. I'll need to take off the back plate as well as the lint trap. Then I'll be able to clean out all the places lint gets stuck. I'll take that opportunity to clean out the hose too. You should do this twice a year to lessen your chance of a house fire due to lint catching flame. It's a big deal people! There are other less deadly reasons too, but you can look that up yourself. Anyway, here's what I accomplished today:

Tons of laundry, and everything that was cleaned is ALSO put away. I'm now down to one load in the washer ready for when I wake up, one load in the dryer as we speak, and two loads in a basket. It'll be done tomorrow.

Guys. I have SO much laundry. This is ridiculous, I've been running loads of laundry without a break for hours now and I still have 5 or 6 loads IN THE BASKETS! So ridiculous.

I also discovered that I probably have too many towels. When my husband and I merged our belongings we didn't get rid of any towels so I have my old sets, his old sets, and the new ones we bought together. Not to mention all the random ones that we've inherited from who-knows-where. Am I the only one who has towels that just appeared in their homes?

I know I need to declutter these, but I'm waiting until my closet in the bathroom is done. I need to do that, it's a big project that involves a box and husband sorting through things...which means it might not happen for a while. Tomorrow I should just take everything out that doesn't belong and put it in a box so he can sort at his leisure and I can put the darn towels away! Right now they're in a basket.

I do all my folding on my bed. Much more comfy! The cats agree (they're sleeping on either side of me right now!).

I literally mean right now, as in I took the picture while sitting here writing this blog post. I needed break, the cats are both konked out next to me and I don't want to wake them up until I need too (aka: the dryer stops) and I have just enough time to write this up.

So my folding board has held up really nicely, I've been using it all night with no problems. I love love love it! I used to prefer hanging clothes, but this is too much fun not to use. I ordered some of those cloth cubes to stack folded clothing in and also for use in the backroom pantry (which is just a bunch of those cube shelving things). I've been putting off buying these because I feel like they're just ridiculously expensive but I can't keep using crappy shoe boxes for everything. I'm trying to make it look like adults live here, and not a bunch of college kids. My husband may not believe it, but I don't like spending a lot of money on that kind of stuff. I mean, I love shopping for them - I just don't like buying them. I got just some basic black ones. When my house is back under control, I want to jazz them up with some pretty ribbons or something. Yay for Pinterest crafting!

My daily checklist won't be super long because it all just is laundry and few kitchen things today - but I've made such a visual impact on this small home by getting the laundry under control! It makes me feel so much better when I can see piles disappearing. Phew!

The cats are breathing in sync, it's kinda hilarious. Too bad the dryer just stopped and I have to move them! Being a cat must be so hard.

Did 5 more loads of laundry. They have not been put away (Going to have a mass folding night soon!).

Unloaded the dishwasher, hand-washed my pots/pans and put them away.

Loaded dishwasher (didn't start, it isn't full yet).

Took off the burner protector plates and scrubbed them clean.

Cleaned off the rest of the stove top.

Threw away trash in the kitchen.

Got the chicken in the slow-cooker for BBQ chicken tonight (smells SO good).

Found out I can use my KitchenAid mixer to shred chicken (WHAT?!).

Went on amazon and spent way too much time researching sleep masks. Purchased 2 sleep masks, 2 trash cans (desk and bedroom), and a new can opener. I spent a lot of time researching can openers, too...

I also started playing SimCity (the newest one) again. It's so addicting!

I made the bed, but then I took a nap in it so it doesn't look like I did.

Cleaned up a new bunny mess.

Dealt with kitty litter. Yuck.

Watched both cats get their butts kicked by Mittens (the only male furbaby in the house, he's a bunny). Laughed. Comforted kittens.

Sorry I included some "non-daily-check-list" items, but I don't have time for a big post, and they were funny moments. Now, I'm off to bed!

Well, I believe I have made up for wasting so much time sleeping. I got quite a bit done, but I'll cover that in my daily checklist. I want to share with you something here that has helped me immensely in taking back control over my closet and PAX (we have a PAX unit plus a closet in our bedroom to make up for lack of storage elsewhere).

Have you guys heard of the flip fold? It's a nifty device that stores use to quickly and uniformly fold their clothing for display. It makes everything the same size for beautiful stacking! You can buy them, but the reviews of the off-brands on Amazon aren't very uplifting (poor design, cheap materials, doesn't last long, edges snap off, etc.) and the original one has to be purchased through the container store and you have to pay S&H. You'll find out that I will not buy something if I have to pay S&H, not with Amazon Prime. I'm in love with Amazon Prime. Seriously. Anyway, I have been lusting after this particular item for a while now, those perfectly folded stacks of shirts just make me so giddy. But I'm not paying that much money PLUS S&H. Not happening.

It's very simple and the pretty duct tape is optional! I've made a little photo step-by-step instructional "slide show" for you!

This is my flip fold I made using a foam board and pretty duct tape and electrical tape on the edges! The purple is darker than this picture makes it seem, though.

This is the shirt we'll be folding today! Yes, I was HUGE into WOW. I've been playing since vanilla's beta (you don't get much more FIRST than that ;) haha). I don't play anymore though, I might get into it. Stopped playing really when Cata came out. Anyway, back to folding.

Place the shirt face down and fold the bottom up so your top and bottom edges are flush with the folder.

It doesn't matter which side you start with, but I started on the left. Fold it over.

If I had been more careful about smoothing the shirt when I put it onto the board, I wouldn't have those wrinkles. But I don't really care...This is what it will look like with one side folded. See that beautiful straight line on the left side of the shirt?

Fold the other side of the shirt, you'll notice that the cat has come to inspect things. She is the ultimate enemy of folding laundry.

At this point Hubster had called me away for something and I returned to Midna claiming the shirt. You'll also notice after folding the second side that the sleeve tends to fall outside the now-defined rectangle.

Remove cat and give the left side of the folding thing one more flip. That will fold the errant sleeve back into the beautiful rectangle.

Just flip up that bottom panel and BOOM!

Isn't it beautiful? If I'm stacking shirts on top of each other then I'm done. If I'm putting them in vertically into a box or drawer (makes it easier to see all the shirts at once than a stack in a deep drawer) then I just fold it one more time to make it a bit thicker so it'll stand up.

This is what Hubster's box of T-shirts looks like with the new folding board, yay!

You can fold long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and even pants! I used it for Hubster's jeans just now. It looks like a lot when you break it down into steps, but once you do it - you'll see how much FASTER it is than doing it by hand and the folds are always consistent and things are the same size. It's awesome. I love it. Totally worth it!

So the potato steamer worked alright. It did not handle two large russet potatoes very well, but as soon as I discarded the second it worked fine.

I was going to write a full post, but my husband's cat decided she was more important. Her name is Domo. My husband found her and named her, so yah. Here she is, blocking my keyboard.

Domo denies your request to access the keyboard pending further tributes of pets and treats.

The universe has decided that I am not allowed to have only one of any type of animal. I have two bunnies, two kittens, and a tortoise in our pet graveyard out back. See, we rescued Midna (my cat) and then, within the week, Domo showed up on our back porch and wouldn't stop meowing until we let her in. They both get along great and are within a week of each other in age (Midna is the slightly bigger sister), so we decided to keep her. Shortly after that, my tortoise died (he got sick, I cried, it was horrible). So now I know, just start off planning to have two.

Our modest house is full at the moment, so the two puppies in our future will have to wait until we have a new home.

Did I mention I am a total pet person? I could own a zoo and still not be content with the number of animals I get to love on. There are only a few exceptions of animals I would want to care for - horses, birds, and more reptiles. I went through a lot of reptiles as a child, they're fun - but a lot of work and they take up a lot of space with their terrariums. I'd make an exception for snakes, they're so cool - but that's a BIG no-no for Hubster. I also just have no interest in horses or birds. Exception to the exception are raptors. Later in life, my husband and I would love to apprentice as falconers. Not gonna lie, I also just look forward to saying I have raptors at my home. Because you know people first think of dinosaurs!

So yeah, now you know my deep dark secret - I would totally be an animal hoarder, except not, but only because it isn't healthy for the animals.

Is it weird that I really want goats? The idea of milking them and making my own cheese is just SO tempting.

I need a pet farm that has high speed internet and is within 15 minutes of a big city. I could totally turn it into a petting zoo, how awesome would that be?!

So I went to be around 5 or 6 am and I still slept until 6 pm. So, I guess the whole "go to bed early get up early" didn't work too well for me. I slept horribly and now isn't a good time to start a new schedule so we'll try again next week maybe.

Now to make baked potatoes for dinner. I'm trying that little microwave pouch thing, I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, my chicken went bad before I could cook it up for chicken BBQ so I'll just be making sloppy joes tomorrow night with some ground beef and we'll have the potatoes tonight. Yay flexibility :) Boo bad chicken :(

Today I cleaned off the top of my desk and actually -cleaned- it with all purpose cleaner.

I cleaned out my keyboard with canned air.

I cleaned out the floor area underneath my desk, phew.

I also broke down a bunch of boxes to be taken out and recycled.

I started the dishwasher.

I remembered to take my vitamins!!

I cleaned up yet another bunny mess (I have two house rabbits and two cats).

I spent a lot of time Skyping with a friend I hadn't talked to in a long while.

I found out my other friend is preggo with kid #2 (WOOHOO!)

I'm also going to bed earlier (4:30am as opposed to 10am) so I can get up at noonish (more like 1 or 2, lol). As much as I enjoy sleeping with hubby, I need to have some normal-people awake time to properly do errands. This means I don't have to "stay up super late" to go grocery shopping on Thursdays. Also, I just fall asleep easier when it's dark out.

Okay, so I know a lot of people participate in Meal Plan Monday; however, my husband gets paid on Thursdays and that is when I go to the bank. I prefer to get all my errands done on the same day, so my "week" starts on Thursdays. I should also clarify that we are a third shift family. So your Wednesday night is my Thursday. So Wednesday night into Thursday morning I am meal planning and getting ready to go into the town as soon as the bank opens so I can get home and go to sleep.

Here's the weird thing - we still eat "dinner" at normal-people dinner time. So my meals are Dinner, Lunch, then Breakfast. Honestly, I like having my biggest meal at the beginning of my day. For some reason it doesn't feel like I'm eating dinner for breakfast. Don't ask me to explain it, I honestly don't know why it works that way!

I started this blog on a Friday, so I already made this meal plan so I'll just copy paste it so you can see how I do it.

I have an overview with the day and the food item. Underneath that I break it down further if it is something I want to have the recipe on hand for. Then I just print it out and put it on my fridge. I like this, because I don't have to pull out an entire book multiple times just to make dinner. I only have to pull them out once. I also save my weekly plans, so if i'm reusing one I can just copy/paste.

Put it all together in a SAMMICH! Served with Sauteed Kale/Shiitake MushroomsFriday: Leftover Spaghetti from WednesdaySaturday: Chicken BBQ SammichesUsing the rest of the shredded chicken (I cooked two breasts on Thursday).Just add BBQ sauce and heat through on the stove. Serve on burger buns.Sunday: Baked potatoes and a saladCook 2 potatoesServe with sour cream, green onion, bacon bits, cheese, and butter.Using a bag salad!Monday: Dave's amazing chiliIt's a mystery how it makes this stuff so darn amazing.Add a dollop of sour cream, top with some shredded cheese and ENJOY!Tuesday: Slow Cooker Loose Meat Sanwiches with Mac n CheeseI'm going to try this recipe because I'm sick of doing tacos and need to use the ground beef. This recipe serves 8, I'm freezing the leftovers for future meals.Ingredients:

1 pound extra lean ground beef or turkey (the lean is more imp. than the type)

1 onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups beef broth

8 hamburger buns

Hamburger fixings: Avocado, Mayo, Mustard, Cheese, Lettuce

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Crumble in the ground meat (it needs to be thawed, or it'll cook in a big clump). Add onion, sugar, spices, mustard, and vinegar. Pour in the beef broth. Mix well until everything is fully incorporated---you may want to use your hands. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Stir well before serving by scooping with a slotted spoons onto hamburger buns. Top with your desired fixings.Wednesday: A night out, or leftovers :)

Author

Jes is a twenty-something wife and mother to four fur-babies and an angel in heaven. She's also pregnant with a rainbow baby! She likes to blog because it keeps her accountable and makes her feel like the English Ed. degree wasn't a total waste!